Daily Times

With weeks until winter, PM Sharif’s directives for an uninterrupted gas supply could have raised hopes for a better energy situation. But since such promises have almost always fizzled the minute cameras get turned off, there’s no stopping the dark clouds from looming across the horizon. Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik has already waved the white flag, sighing over an impending crippling shortage this year–in perfect synchrony with the last season.

The fact of the matter remains that the dependence on natural gas, especially liquified, has turned into a ghastly nightmare. There’s little supply available until 2026, while the cash-strapped country is futilely knocking door to door for spot shipments. Pakistan is in no position to afford brushes with the volatile spot market, and expensive deals in the past have drawn much ire to the state-owned importer.

Mr Sharif and his cabinet may try all they want to appease worries using buzzwords like effective load management but the streets are still rife with rumours of gas curtailments going through the roof to add gloom to cold nights. If promises could burn boilers or run furnaces, neither the residential nor industrial sectors would have been scampering in search of alternate arrangements.

The seemingly endless queues at tandoors are worrying yet routine sight because there is simply not enough pressure to burn stoves even in urban quarters.

How the rural areas make do with skyrocketing prices of cylinders since natural gas fails to travel through pipelines is an entirely different saga altogether. Largely decried by the opposition as the last blow to the former prime minister’s tenure, the much-celebrated highlight of his trip–uninterrupted gas pipeline–has yet to materialise.

Russian supplies are nowhere in sight despite repeated assurances from President Vladimir Putin. Furthermore, with all of Europe hoarding as much LNG to plug the holes in its energy cauldron, developing countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh are fast falling behind. Prices are soaring as super-chilled fuel has become the new black gold. As the alternate markets strengthen in a bid to sustain without the Russian contract, profound economic challenges are inching closer to this side of the world. *